Payette completed a Science Facilities Master Plan that addresses Georgetown University’s highly constrained and aging facilities along with their expanding enrollments and faculty. The first phase of the Master Plan is the New Science Center housing laboratories, classrooms and offices for the biology, chemistry and physics departments. A second phase will include renovation to the Reiss Science Building and a connecting bridge between the two structures.
Placed at an active junction in the currently barren and dysfunctional midcampus area, the New Science Center is designed to improve the pedestrian conditions by drawing the Georgetown community into and through this critical campus area. The plan provides a dramatic path from the southern entrance at level one through daylit arcades and stairs to the Leavey Student Center at level four to the north. The building also fosters strong links between the McDonough Business School to the west and the majority of campus facilities to the east.
The New Science Center’s placement adjacent to the McDonough Business School shapes a south-facing quadrangle with terraces stepping 45 feet up to the Leavey Campus Center, encouraging the use of outdoor space at four floor levels.